Rotary Family Picnic

Posted by Valerie Evans

on Sep 23, 2013

Rotary Family Picnic 2013

This year's Rotary Family Picnic was a big success and the perfect way to kick off our 100th anniversary celebration. Fellowship and friendship were truly at the heart of our afternoon together as we gathered in celebration of this Club's impressive 100 year history and in anticipation of its bright future. We were also blessed with incredible weather for our special day, which helped make things all the more enjoyable.

There are so many people to thank, starting with our Rotarians who attended the picnic and brought friends, family and potential new members! The energy and excitement of this group was felt for miles. We estimate around 90 people were in attendance and ranged in age from 3 weeks old to 90 years!

Other thank yous go out to: Rusine Mitchell-Sinclair for her leadership, guidance and assistance with planning the event; Bill and Sally McLaurin for hosting us out on their beautiful farm and for their family's hospitality; Mary Moss for her leadership on the 100th year anniversary committee and for sharing with us the many exciting plans in store for our Club over the next year; Sam Stone for providing our invocation and the reminder of our many blessings and the opportunities we have to serve others; Frank McNally and the Raleigh Convention Center for supplying us with tables, chairs, linens, wine and ice; Bill Sigmon for lending us his large truck to transport items and for helping with the set up and break down of the event; Simon Everett and Steele Hall who also helped with the transportation of items and with set up and/or break down of the event; Katherine Gilliland for running the sign in table, greeting everyone upon arrival and all the behind-the-scenes work she does to keep things running smoothly; Valerie Evans for all of her technological assistance prior to the event; Chuck Caldwell and Patsy Pierce for their assistance with parking; Mary Moss for the cupcakes as well as all the others who contributed the delicious desserts; the Zeta Beta Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at NCSU for lending us the large tent; Sweetwater Brewing for donating beer; Red White and Blue for a catering job well done and everyone who helped clean up and break things down at the conclusion of the picnic. A big thank you to all of you!

There was a significant amount of food left over from the picnic and we are delighted to report that food did not go to waste. It was donated to the AME homeless shelter on Capital Boulevard. Jacqui Roth and her family dropped it off at the shelter and she reports that "it totally made their night!" Our timing could not have been better as the shelter's plans for food that night had just fallen through. What a wonderful opportunity for Rotary to show support to the community in such a meaningful way.

Thank you again to everyone who helped make this event such a success. Here's to celebrating 100 years!